History Trivia / Nosferatu

* ScrewedByTheLawyers: The film was nearly lost due to a lawsuit from Bram Stoker's estate over the film blatantly plagiarising ''Literature/{{Dracula}}''.

* LyingCreator: Studio head Albin Grau claimed that he was inspired to make the film in 1916 when a Serbian farmer told him his father was a vampire. Film historians believe this is fabricated to sell tickets.

** At the time of release and for many years after, there were rumors that Schreck didn't actually exist and was a stage name used by well-known actor Alfred Abel to make his character seem more mysterious. It's often noted that Schreck (German for "terror") is a curiously appropriate name for an actor playing a vampire, which is a pleasant coincidence, but Schreck is also a fairly common German and Dutch surname.

* ScrewedByTheLawyers: The film was nearly lost due to a lawsuit from Bram Stoker's Estate over the film blatantly plagiarising ''Literature/{{Dracula}}''.

* ScrewedByTheLawyers: The film was nearly lost due to a lawsuit from Bram Stoker's Estate over the film supposedly pladgerizing ''Literature/{{Dracula}}''.

* ReferencedBy: In ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'', Lestat, Claudia and Louis are giggling while attending a screening of this movie.

* ScrewedByTheLawyers: The film was nearly lost due to a lawsuit from Bram Stoker’s Estate over the film supposedly plagerizing ''Literature/{{Dracula}}''.

** It is often reported that the names of characters were changed to avoid [[WritingAroundTrademarks copyright disputes]] with the novel. But the titles actually state that the film is based on the novel, and the name changes seem more just for the sake of relocating the story to Germany - as it was low budget and intended just for German audiences.

* BannedInChina: Due to "excessive horror", the film was banned in Sweden until 1972.

* IAmNotShazam: Despite what [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants SpongeBob]] may lead you to believe, Orlok's name is ''not'' Nosferatu.

* ImageSource:
** LooksLikeOrlok (center)
** OurVampiresAreDifferent (top middle)

* CompletelyDifferentTitle: In a particularly bizarre (and ironic, given the original's copyright disputes) example of this trope, an independent Germany film company tried to released a heavily edited sound version of ''Nosferatu'' entitled ''The Twelfth Hour'' in 1930. The producers of this version had supposedly received a print of Creator/FWMurnau's rough cut from Albin Grau, the film's producer, and received permission to reedit it once the copyright disputes were cleared. They not only drastically recut the film but added sound, used alternate takes cut from the theatrical release, changed the character names (again) and even shot new scenes [[TheOtherMarty featuring different actors]]. This version saw release in Germany and a handful of other European countries, with the producers initially marketing it as a [[BlatantLies completely different movie]], but other countries with stricter copyright laws blocked its release.[[note]]Which didn't stop a number of historians from conflating it with the "official" ''Nosferatu''; ''Twelfth Hour'' is often listed as an alternate, or even the primary title for Murnau's film in several reference books[[/note]] Decades later, Murnau's estate purchased the rights to ''The Twelfth Hour'', and to date they have blocked any official video release - although it turns up occasionally on television and at classic film festivals.

** At the time of release and for many years after, there were rumors that Schreck didn't actually exist and was a stage name used by well-known actor Alfred Abel to make his character seem more mysterious.

* IAmNotShazam: Despite what Spongebob may lead you to believe, Orlok's name is ''not'' Nosferatu.
* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The reason this movie still exists. According to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosferatu The Other Wiki]], the studio who made the film was sued by the estate of Creator/BramStoker, and the courts ordered all copies of the film to be ''burned''. Somehow, one copy slipped through the cracks, and this copy was then duplicated and spread throughout the world. The 'crack' was the United States, which didn't recognize most foreign copyright claims until decades later, by which time the original book was public domain and the claim against the film moot.
* LyingCreator: Studio head Albin Grau claimed that he was inspired to make the film in 1916 when a Serbian farmer told him his father was a vampire. Film historians believe this is a made-up story to sell tickets.

** At the time of the movie's release and for many years after, there were rumors that Max Schreck didn't actually exist and was a stage name used by well-known actor Alfred Abel to make his character seem more mysterious.

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: At the time of the movie's release and for many years after, there were rumors that Max Schreck didn't actually exist and was a stage name used by well-known actor Alfred Abel to make his character seem more mysterious.

* NeverWorkWithChildrenOrAnimals: One scene has Orlok loading up a horse-drawn cart with coffins. He then gets inside one at the top of the coffin stack. Watch as the lid of the coffin moves up to Orlok's coffin (via stop-motion photography) -- the horses change position a couple of times.

* CompletelyDifferentTitle: In a particularly bizarre (and ironic, given the original's copyright disputes) example of this trope, an independent Germany film company tried to released a heavily edited sound version of ''Nosferatu'' entitled ''The Twelfth Hour'' in 1930. The producers of this version had supposedly received a print of Creator/FWMurnau's rough cut from Albin Grau, the film's producer, and received permission to reedit it once the copyright disputes were cleared. They not only drastically recut the film but added sound, used alternate takes cut from the theatrical release, and even shot new scenes [[TheOtherMarty featuring different actors]]. This version saw release in Germany and a handful of other European countries, with the producers marketing it as a [[BlatantLies completely different movie]], but other countries with stricter copyright laws blocked its release and it flopped at the box office.[[note]]Which didn't stop a number of historians from conflating it with the "official" ''Nosferatu''; ''Twelfth Hour'' is often listed as an alternate, or even the primary title for Murnau's film in several reference books[[/note]] Decades later, Murnau's estate purchased the rights to ''The Twelfth Hour'', and to date they have blocked any official video release - although it turns up occasionally on television and at classic film festivals.

* CompletelyDifferentTitle: In a particularly bizarre (and ironic, given the original's copyright disputes) example of this trope, an independent Germany film company tried to released a heavily edited sound version of ''Nosferatu'' entitled ''The Twelfth Hour'' in 1930. The producers of this version had supposedly received a print of Creator/FWMurnau's rough cut from Albin Grau, the film's producer, and received permission to reedit it once the copyright disputes were cleared. They not only drastically recut the film but added sound and even shot new scenes [[TheOtherMarty featuring different actors]]. This version saw release in Germany and a handful of other European countries, with the producers marketing it as a [[BlatantLies completely different movie]], but other countries with stricter copyright laws blocked its release and it flopped at the box office.[[note]]Which didn't stop a number of historians from conflating it with the "official" ''Nosferatu''; ''Twelfth Hour'' is often listed as an alternate, or even the primary title for Murnau's film in several reference books[[/note]] Decades later, Murnau's estate purchased the rights to ''The Twelfth Hour'', and to date they have blocked any official video release - although it turns up occasionally on television and at classic film festivals.

* CompletelyDifferentTitle: In a particularly bizarre (and ironic, given the original's copyright disputes) example of this trope, an independent Germany film company tried to released a heavily edited sound version of ''Nosferatu'' entitled ''The Twelfth Hour'' in 1930. The producers of this version had supposedly received a print of Creator/FWMurnau's rough cut from Albin Grau, the film's producer, and received permission to reedit it once the copyright disputes were cleared. They not only drastically recut the film but added sound and even shot new scenes [[TheOtherMarty featuring different actors]]. This version saw release in Germany and a handful of other European countries, with the producers marketing it as a [[BlatantLies completely different movie]], but other countries with stricter copyright laws blocked its release and it flopped at the box office.[[note]]Which didn't stop a number of historians from conflating the two versions; ''Twelfth Hour'' is often listed as an alternate, or even the primary title in several reference books[[/note]] Decades later, Murnau's estate purchased the rights to ''The Twelfth Hour'', and to date they have blocked any official video release - although it turns up occasionally on television and at classic film festivals.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The reason this movie still exists. According to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosferatu The Other Wiki]], the film's creating studio was sued by the estate of Creator/BramStoker, and the courts ordered all copies of the film to be ''burned''. Somehow, one copy slipped through the cracks, and this copy was then duplicated and spread throughout the world. The 'crack' was the United States, which didn't recognize most foreign copyright claims until decades later, by which time the original book was public domain and the claim against the film moot.